Thoughts and notes about the books I am reading. My entries are not book reviews but just my personal thoughts and opinions about what I'm reading at the moment. The entries obviously contain SPOILERS.

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Footprints on the Sand 7 (Chapters 12 – 13)

Faith deluded herself when she entered her relationship with Guy. She thought that their love would be enough, but time has the knack to make us see the truth. Their saying “What others don’t know won’t hurt them” proves to be a lie. She discovers the reality of her relationship. That happens because of Oliver.

The boy has been having problems at school, stealing things from other boys, and then he is expelled for that reason. Guy, who thinks that the reason why his son is toying with theft is because since birth he has had everything. So now Guy believes he should go to the local grammar school where there are less privileged children. Eleanor is against this decision, and Oliver feels the same, but this time Guy won’t be vanquished. However, the move doesn’t work out the way he wants as Oliver befriends another boy who is a bit of a rascal. Oliver is not innocent either as he smokes and likes pilfering things, and Wilcox introduces him to the world of women and dirty magazines. When he pinches a couple of pounds from his father’s wallet, he finds a card of Faith’s shop. Then one day when he is walking around Soho, he sees the shop and remembers the card. So out of curiosity he gets inside and when nobody is looking at him, he takes a scarf and leaves. Yet, Faith has seen him and intercepts him. Promising not to call the police, he takes the boy to a café, and Oliver explains that he stole the scarf to cheer his mother up as she is lately down. Oliver describes the rows between his parents, and when he confesses that he was expelled from his school for stealing, Faith realises who the boy is.

Without losing more time, Faith calls Guy. Now that she knows that what they are doing is hurting a little boy, she knows that they can’t continue. Naturally, Guy is upset but he understands her reasoning, especially when she tells him some things about his son that Guy didn’t even know. So Guy realises that he has neglected Oliver and needs to take his duty as a father more seriously. So in the end Faith calls the shots and tells her that they can’t see each other any longer, and if they were to run into each other in the street, they need to pretend they are strangers. So this is it. I feel sorry for them because they really love each other, and it is a shame that Guy is condemned to be with a woman he doesn’t love.

As for Jake, he settled in the school where he teaches thanks to Mary. She and Jake are close, and he is the only one who knows that George, her son, was born out of wedlock. Poor Mary has been unlucky as the man who she had dated for months dropped her when she agreed to sleep with her. Mary even heard that he was bragging about it, and when she fell pregnant, he had the nerve to ask her whether she knew if he was the father for real. That is why Mary was reluctant to start a relationship with Jake, given that his reputation with women was not promising. Yet, they talk and finally are able to take the step to be together. Yet, poor Jake is not lucky. The teacher who he had had the incident sees him and Mary together, and as a revenge he starts beating George, Mary’s son. Then when Jake confronts him about it, somehow the man manages to get confirmation that George is illegitimate. When Jake tells Mary, the woman knows that she won’t be able to stay. The teacher will definitely tell the governor, so she finally gets a job in Wales, and even if it hurts her, she has to leave Jake. After she leaves, Jake knows that he can’t stay, and he feels suffocated by the hypocrisy in the school. Now as he thinks about the school, which is the kind of institution his father went to, Jake starts seeing his father in a new light as he was able to walk away from this world. Jake won’t work here any longer, and during an award-giving ceremony Jake delivers a speech to all parents and staff about what he really thinks about his colleagues and the families. The speech is sharp and offensive, and as Jake packs his things, he is filled with satisfaction even though he knows he won’t have another chance to be a teacher. I wonder what he will do now.

Thoughts and notes about the books I am reading. My entries are not book reviews but just my personal thoughts and opinions about what I'm reading at the moment. The entries obviously contain SPOILERS.